Devon’s review of His Magical Student by Mary Winter
Fantasy erotic romance ebook novella published 26 Dec 2007 by Ellora’s Cave

My reviews have been suffering from a distressing sameness lately, so to switch things up, I’m pulling out a format I haven’t played with in awhile. With the two haiku review, I attempt to sum up the essence of a book in thirty four syllables. Without further ado—

Girl meets mage mentor,
Awakens tied to his bed,
Magic Lesson???? Huh.

Oral sex lessons
Are key to learning magic,
Not bad, but nonsense.

I always get excited when I see a fantasy/romance hybrid, but in this case, the premise is largely an excuse to get to the sex. What does manacling someone to the bed and going down on them have to do with learning magic? Something about submission and control. Okay, whatever. We don’t learn much about the nature of magic in this world, other than giving BJs will make you learn it better. There is also a virgin heroine who takes to sex like a champ. A champ who knows how to stimulate the anus! I guess she was more than magically gifted.

The characterization was alright and there were some scenes of the heroine and heroine getting to know each other non-sexually. But ultimately, His Magic Servant suffers from what I’ve come think of as Erotic Romance Novella Syndrome. Symptoms include wooden characters, a flimsy premise designed to get the characters in bed quickly, weak world building, a sudden ending and an unsatisfying romance. This reader has to stick with novel length erotic romance in the future. And this time I mean it.

Grade: C-

From the back cover:

As the only mage protecting several villages, Teryn Windhorn is stretched thin battling magical creatures. Finding a young female injured in battle, he soon discovers Jendaya is beautiful, fearless and a powerful mage. Haunted by the death of his last apprentice, he still hungers for Jendaya, and her magical training is the perfect opportunity to indulge his fantasies.

A mage’s bastard daughter, Jendaya Carinella is shunned by her village—the very village she’s sworn to protect. Untrained, she nearly dies in battle, and blames the mage who should have been protecting her people. But as Teryn introduces her to a world of magical training and her powers grow, so too does her desire for Teryn.

Read an excerpt here

Read more from Devon at Is That a Stake in Your Pocket?